SPEECH 


t 

OF 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD, 


ON  THE 


ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY 


IN  THE 


DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 


Delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  September  11,  1850. 


WASHINGTON  : 

PRINTED  AND  FOR  SALE  BY  BUELL  &  BLANCHARD, 
Sixth  street,  south  of  Pennsylvania  avenue. 

1850. 


1 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


https://archive.org/details/speechofwilliamh00sewa_2 


SPEECH. 


Mr.  Clay’s  bill  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  being  under  consideration  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  Mr. 
Pearce,  of  Maryland,  moved  amendments  which  provided  that  the  offence 
of  enticing  a  slave  to  escape,  or  the  offence  of  assisting  or  favoring  such 
an  escape,  or  of  harboring  a  slave  with  a  view  to  assist  his  escape  from 
slavery,  should  be  a  felony,  punishable  with  not  less  than  two  nor  more 
than  ten  years’  imprisonment  in  the  Penitentiary  ;  and  further  conferring 
upon  corporations  in  the  District  of  Columbia  authority  to  impose  condi¬ 
tions  upon  the  residence  of  free  colored  persons  within  the  District. 

These  amendments  were  adopted  by  a  vote  of  yeas  26,  nays  15 ;  where¬ 
upon  Mr.  Seward  submitted  a  proposition  to  strike  out  the  whole  bill  and 
insert  the  following 

AMENDMENT  AS  A  SUBSTITUTE: 

Sec.  1.  Slavery  shall  forever  cease  within  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  all  per¬ 
sons  held  in  bondage  therein  shall  be  free.  The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  shall  audit 
and  pay,  to  all  persons  holding  slaves  within  the  District  at  the  time  this  act  takes 
effect,  such  damages  as  they  shall  suffer  by  the  passage  thereof;  and  the  sum  of 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  is  hereby  appropriated  to  carry  this  act  into  exe¬ 
cution,  out  of  any  money  in  the  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated. 

Sec.  2.  An  election  shall  be  held  in  the  District  of  Columbia  to  ascertain  whether 
this  bill  is  approved  by  the  people  thereof.  Those  who  approve  the  act  shall  ex¬ 
press  their  approbation  by  a  ballot  containing  the  words  “  For  emancipation  in  the 
District.”  Those  who  are  opposed  shall  vote  by  ballot  containing  the  words, 
“  Against  emancipation  in  the  District.”  All  persons  entitled  to  vote  for  any  muni¬ 
cipal  officer  in  the  District,  and  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  residing  within  the 
District  permanently,  shall  be  deemed  qualified  to  vote  at  such  election.  Such 
election  shall  be  held  within  six  months  from  the  passage  of  this  act,  and  on  public 
notice  of  not  less  than  three  months,  to  be  given  by  the  Marshal  of  the  District.  If 
a  majority  of  the  votes  given  at  such  election  shall  be  in  favor  of  this  act,  it  shall  go 
into  effect  immediately.  If  a  majority  of  the  votes  shall  be  against  the  same,  this 
act  shall  be  void  and  of  no  effect. 

The  question  being  on  the  amendment, 

Mr.  SEWARD  rose  and  said  : 

Mr.  President,  in  submitting  so  grave  a  proposition  as  this,  I  am  aware 
that  it  would  have  been  no  unreasonable  demand  on  the  patience  of  the 
Senate  or  that  of  the  country,  to  have  asked  for  time  enough  to  explain  the 
policy  of  the  measure,  and  to  defend  the  form  in  which  it  was  submitted. 
But  there  remain  only  fifteen  secular  days  of  this  session  of  Congress,  and 
in  my  judgment  the  time  has  come  for  debate  to  cease,  and  for  action  to 
go  on.  For  this  reason  I  forbore  from  debate  on  offering  the  amendment; 
and  I  forbore,  also,  because  at  an  earlier  stage  of  the  session  I  had  dis¬ 
cussed  at  large  all  the  principles  involved  in  the  measure.  I  had  another 
reason  for  that  forbearance. 


4 


Speaking  for  myself  alone,  and  imputing  no  prejudice  and  no  injustice 
to  others,  I  may  be  allowed  to  remark  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  any¬ 
where  seems  to  me  a  just  and  wise  policy,  provided  it  can  be  effected 
without  producing  injury  outweighing  its  benefits.  Opposition  to  eman¬ 
cipation  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  therefore,  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  "bad 
cause,  and  it  is  the  nature  of  a  bad  cause  to  betray  itself.  I  did  not  mis¬ 
take,  then,  in  supposing  that  the  opposition  which  my  proposition  would 
encounter  would  prove  its  best  vindication. 

Influenced  by  these  considerations,  I  shall  not  now  address  myself  to  the 
broad  merits  of  the  question,  but  shall  be  content  with  simply  adverting  to 
the  points  which  have  been  made  during  the  present  debate.  The  first 
point  was  made  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Georgia,  [Mr.  Dawson,] 
with  the  concurrence  of  some  other  Senators,  and  consisted  in  the  im¬ 
proper  or  bad  motives  which  they  saw  fit  to  impute  to  the  author  of  the 
measure.  Sir,  the  great  instructor  in  the  art  of  reasoning  (Lord  Bacon) 
teaches  that  it  is  better  always  to  answer  to  the  “ matter”  of  an  adversary 
than  to  his  “  person.”  The  imputation  of  motives  does  not  come  within  that 
rule,  and  therefore  it  falls  at  my  feet.  The  measure  I  have  submitted  is 
either  right  or  wrong.  If  right,  no  unworthiness  of  motive  of  mine  can  de¬ 
tract  from  its  merits :  if  wrong,  no  purity  of  motive  can  redeem  it. 

The  second  point  is  that  which  has  been  so  fully  answered  by  the  honor¬ 
able  and  distinguished  Senator  from  Kentucky,  [Mr.  Clay,]  viz :  that 
Congress  has  no  power  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  I 
find  that  power  in  the  Constitution,  and  it  is  defined  by  these  words:  “To 
exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever  over  such  district,  not 
exceeding  ten  miles  square,  as  may,  by  cession  of  particular  States,, 
and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  seat  of  Government  of  the 
United  States.” 

The  District  of  Columbia  is  that  district  not  exceeding  ten  milles  square. 
It  has  become  the  seat  ofthe  Government  of  the  UnitedStates  by  cession  of 
the  State  of  Maryland,  accepted  by  Congress.  It  is  ofthe  very  nature  of  the 
power  that  it  is  “  exclusive,”  and  applies  “  to  all  cases  whatsoever,”  when¬ 
ever  the  district  becomes,  in  the  manner  defined,  the  seat  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  of  the  United  States.  This,  I  think,  is  a  conclusive  answer  to  the 
argument  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky,  that  it  is  limited  by  an 
implied  understanding  that  it  should  not  be  exercised  to  abolish  slavery. 
Neither  could  the  State  of  Maryland  make  nor  could  the  United  States 
yield  such  a  reservation. 

An  exclusive  power  is  that  power  which  is  possessed  and  may  be  exercis¬ 
ed  independently  of  all  other  sovereignties  on  earth.  Congress,  then, 
having  “exclusive  power,”  has  absolute  sovereignty,  unless  cases  be  ex¬ 
cepted  in  which  it  shall  not  be  exercised.  But  such  exceptions  are  ex¬ 
cluded  by  the  broad  expression,  “  in  all  cases  whatsoever.” 

Those  who  framed  the  Constitution  were  fully  aware  of  the  extent  of  the 
power  which  it  conferred.  Mr.  Madison  thus  describes  it  in  the  43d  number 
of  the  Federalist : 

“  The  indispensable  necessity  of  complete  authority  at  the  seat  of  Government 
carries  its  own  evidence  with  it.  It  is  a  power  exercised  by  every  Legislature 
of  the  Union — I  might  say  of  the  world — by  virtue  of  its  general  supremacy.” 


5 


Yes,  sir,  it  is  a  complete ,  not  an  imperfect  power.  It  is  a  power  over  the 
District,  equal  to  any  authority  which  can  be  exercised  by  any  Legislature 
of  any  “  State  in  this  Union,”  or  by  any  Legislature  of  any  State  or  nation 
“  in  the  world”  It  is  a  power  described  in  the  philosophy  of  Government 
as  “  summum  imperium ,  summo  modo  — a  power,  within  the  region  of  its 
exercise,  complete,  absolute,  universal.  Now,  every  Legislature  in  this 
Union,  every  sovereign  authority  in  the  world,  has  the  power  to  abolish 
slavery.  More  than  half  the  States  in  this  Union  have  abolished  or  pro¬ 
hibited  it.  France,  England,  and  Mexico,  have  abolished  and  prohibited 
it.  Congress  can  do,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  what  they  have  done 
within  their  respective  dominions. 

I  dwell  upon  this  point  only  a  moment  longer.  Slavery  within  the  Dis¬ 
trict  of  Columbia  exists  only  by  the  action  of  Congress.  Instead  of  pursu¬ 
ing  the  argument  further,  to  prove  that  Congress  has  the  power  to  make  a 
free  man,  I  demand  proof  that  Congress  possesses  the  power  to  make  a 
slave,  or  hold  a  man  in  bondage. 

All  the  other  points  which  have  been  raised,  apply,  not  to  the  merits  of 
the  proposition  for  emancipation,  but  only  to  the  form  and  manner  of  car¬ 
rying  it  into  effect.  Such  were  the  objections  raised  by  my  honorable  and 
esteemed  friend  from  Connecticut,  [Mr.  Baldwin,]  and  my  no  less  honor¬ 
able  and  esteemed  friend  from  Massachusetts,  [Mr.  Winthrop.]  It  will  be 
seen  at  once,  that  these  objections  concede  that  the  principle  of  the  meas¬ 
ure  is  right.  Nevertheless,  without  holding  those  gentlemen  to  this  con- 
cession,  but  leaving  them  to  judge  and  act  for  themselves,  I  shall  be  con¬ 
tent  to  reply  to  them,  so  far  only  as  to  vindicate  the  plan  of  emancipation 
embodied  in  the  amendment.  What,  then,  is  the  form,  and  what  the  man¬ 
ner  proposed  ?  The  amendment  declares  that  slavery  shall  forever  cease 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  that  all  persons  held  in  bondage  therein 
when  the  act  shall  go  into  effect  shall  be  free.  It  directs  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  to  pay  the  damages  which  any  person  holding  slaves  within 
the  District  shall  incur  by  reason  of  its  passage,  and  it  appropriates  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  as  a  fund  for  that  purpose.  The  amendment  fur¬ 
ther  provides  for  an  election,  in  which  the  qualified  and  competent  citizens 
of  the  District  shall  express  their  approbation  or  disapprobation  of  the  act. 
If  they  disapprove,  it  shall  be  void  and  of  no  effect. 

I  submit,  sir,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  plan  is  adequate.  It  will  secure 
he  abolition  of  slavery  within  the  District,  if  it  obtain  the  consent  of  those 
who  are  most  particularly  concerned  in  the  question.  I  have  not  learned 
from  either  of  my  honorable  friends  that  he  is  in  favor  of  emancipating  the 
slaves  without  the  consent  of  the  people  in  the  District,  and  we  have  all 
heard  other  honorable  Senators  insist  upon  that  consent  as  indispensable, 
d  o  not  insist  upon  it  for  myself.  I  have  only  surrendered  so  much  to 
their  objections;  but  if  a  majority  of  the  Senate  should  waive  the  objection, 
it  would  give  me  pleasure  to  modify  the  plan  accordingly. 

Secondly,  the  plan  is  an  equal  one.  While  it  restores  to  the  slave  the 
inestimable  right  of  freedom,  it  awards  to  him  who,  by  authority  of  Con¬ 
gress,  has  hitherto  held  the  slave  in  bondage,  a  just  remuneration  and  in¬ 
demnity  for  his  loss.  It  is,  then,  adequate  and  equal. 


6 


Thirdly,  the  plan  is  not  violent  nor  capricious,  but  is  deliberate  and  pru¬ 
dent ;  for  it  makes  this  solemn  transaction  to  depend  upon  a  canvass  to  be 
continued  not  less  than  three  months,  nor  longer  than  six  months,  among 
the  people  of  the  District. 

Fourthly,  the  plan  is  broad  enough.  I  am  informed  by  what  I  believe 
credible  evidence  that  the  number  of  slaves  within  the  District,  as  ascer¬ 
tained  by  the  census,  male  and  female,  old  and  young,  great  and  small,  is 
about  six  hundred,  and  that  their  value  is  estimated  by  those  who  regard 
them  as  subjects  of  traffic,  as  I  certainly  do  not,  at  three  hundred  dollars 
for  each  person,  and  in  the  aggregate  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
dollars.  The  amendment  appropriates  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  If 
the  sum  is  too  great,  nothing  will  be  lost.  If  it  is  too  small,  the  deficiency 
can  be  now  or  afterwards  supplied. 

But  my  honorable  friend  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Winthrop]  objects 
that  the  amendment  contains  no  provision  for  the  support  of  the  slaves,  or  of 
any  of  them,  after  their  emancipation.  Sir,  if  I  could  admit  that  this  ob¬ 
jection  had  weight,  it  would  be  a  sufficient  answer  that,  in  the  judgment 
of  other  Senators,  such  a  provision  would  only  tend  to  defeat  the  object 
in  view. 

If  honorable  Senators  think  I  err  in  this,  let  them  submit  such  a 
provision,  and  if  it  do  not  embarrass  the  bill,  it  shall  receive  my  vote. 

But  I  think  the  objection  itself  is  not  well  grounded.  The  slave  is  held 
in  bondage,  not  for  his  own  support  and  for  his  own  benefit,  but  for  the  sup¬ 
port  and  benefit  of  his  master.  It  is  the  slave,  then,  that  supports  or  contri¬ 
butes  to  the  support  of  the  master,  and  not  the  master  that  supports  the  slave. 
It  is  not  in  humanity  that  it  should  be  otherwise.  Believe  the  slave,  then,  from 
the  support  of  his  master,  and  his  whole  energies  will  be  directed  to  making 
provision  for  himself  and  his  own  family.  The  instincts  of  the  common  nature 
which  he  shares  with  us  will  do  the  rest.  But  you  may  reply  that  these 
persons  are  degraded,  so  as  to  be  unable  to  take  care  of  themselves.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  in  this  District  that  the  institution  assumes  its  most  cheer- 
ful  or  least  repulsive  aspect.  Here,  in  the  centre  of  the  Union,  in  the  cap¬ 
ital  of  this  free  empire,  the  African  race  has  been  held  in  bondage  from 
generation  to  generation,  through  a  period  of  near  two  hundred  years. 
We  all  trust,  we  all  believe,  that  the  ultimate  result  of  the  transfer  of  this 
foreign  population  to  our  own  shores  is  to  be  the  bringing  of  them  to  a 
condition  to  support  themselves,  and  to  exercise  the  privileges  of  self-gov¬ 
ernment.  It  is  a  sad  commentary  upon  the  operations  of  our  own  insti¬ 
tutions  to  say  that  two  hundred  years  have  not  been  enough  to  bring  these 
six  hundred  persons,  under  such  favorable  auspices,  to  the  capability  of  pro¬ 
viding  for  their  own  daily  wants. 

The  next  objection  to  the  measure  which  I  shall  notice  is,  that  it  is  an 
indiscreet  one.  This,  I  think,  was  the  language  of  my  honorable  friend 
from  Massachusetts,  [Mr.  Winthrop.]  The  objection  implies  assent  to 
the  justice  and  wisdom  of  the  measure  itself,  and  takes  issue  only  upon  the 
time,  occasion,  or  circumstances  in  which  it  is  proposed.  It  concedes, 
moreover,  that  it  would  be  proper  at  a  different  time,  on  some  other  occa¬ 
sion,  or  in  some  other  circumstances. 


7 


Let  us  see,  then,  wherein  the  indiscretion  consists.  And  first  as  to  the 
occasion.  One  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Winthrop]  says  that  by  support¬ 
ing  it  on  this  occasion  we  should  incur  the  risk  of  losing  the  bill  itself 
which  is  proposed  to  be  amended,  and  thus  losing  the  abolition  of  the 
slave  trade  within  the  District  of  Columbia.  Suppose  we  do.  What  would 
be  the  loss  ?  The  amendment  before  you  secures  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade,  for  it  abolishes  slavery  altogether.  When  slavery  falls,  the  trade, 
which  is  only  an  incident  of  it,  must  instantly  cease.  But  the  Senator  is 
afraid  that,  between  the  two,  both  will  be  lost.  That  cannot  happen.  The 
passage  of  either  will  accomplish  the  object  in  view. 

If  the  amendment  shall  pass,  you  will  have  a  better  law  than  the  bill  of 
the  Committee  of  Thirteen.  If  the  amendment  shall  fail,  you  will  still  have 
the  bill  of  the  Committee  of  Thirteen. 

But  the  bill  of  the  Committee  of  Thirteen  is  not  put  in  jeopardy.  It  is 
lost,  or  worse  than  lost,  to  us  already.  If  it  had  not  been,  I  should  not 
have  offered  my  proposition  as  an  amendment!  The  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade,  indeed,  remains  in  the  bill ;  but  conditions  have  been  annexed  which 
cannot  be  accepted,  and  which  compel  us  of  the  free  States  to  reject  the 
bill  itself.  One  of  these  conditions  is,  the  converting  into  a  felony,  pun¬ 
ishable  with  ten  years’  imprisonment,  the  act  of  aiding  or  favoring  the 
escape  of  a  fugitive  slave,  or  even  the  act  of  harboring  a  slave  with  a  view  to 
aid  his  escape.  The  punishment  already  denounced  by  the  law  is  severe 
enough,  in  my  judgment,  for  an  act  that  is  wrong  not  because  it  is  errone¬ 
ous  in  itself,  but  only  because  it  is  declared  by  the  statue  to  be  wrong. 
The  second  condition  which  has  been  annexed  to  the  bill  is  the  conferring 
of  a  right  upon  the  Corporations  within  the  District  to  impose  conditions 
upon  which  freed  men  shall  be  allowed  to  enter  and  remain  in  the  District, 
or  depart  from  it;  in  other  words,  to  proscribe  free  men,  who  are  citizens 
of  the  United  States  and  of  the  free  States. 

By  the  addition  of  these  conditions,  the  bill  has  been  converted  from  a  law 
meliorating  slavery  within  the  Distiict  into  a  law  to  fortify  slavery  and  pro¬ 
scribe  free  men.  When  that  was  done,  my  last  hope,  my  last  purpose,  my 
last  thought  of  supporting  the  bill,  was  gone.  And  yet  this  bill  is  the  bill 
which  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts  complains  that  I  am  put¬ 
ting  in  jeopardy.  This,  sir,  and  nothing  other  or  different  from  this,  is  the 
boon  which  he  says  was  just  within  our  grasp,  and  which  I  have  struck, 
down  to  the  earth.  Sir,  when  my  amendment  shall  have  been  rejected, 
this  bill  will  still  remain.  I  wait  to  see  whether  he  will  embrace  it,  and 
take  it  to  his  bosom.  I  shall  not  harbor  it;  it  would  sting  me  to 
death. 

So  much,  sir,  for  the  occasion.  And  now  for  the  indiscretion,  so  far  as 
it  depends  upon  time  and  circumstances.  I  think  it  wrong  to  hold  men  in 
bondage  at  any  time  and  under  any  circumstances.  I  think  it  right  and 
just,  therefore,  to  abolish  slavery  when  we  have  the  power,  at  any  time,  at 
all  times,  under  any  circumstances.  Now,  sir,  so  far  as  the  objection  rests 
upon  the  time  when  this  measure  is  proposed,  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  if  the 
present  is  not  the  right  time,  then  there  must  be  or  there  must  have  been 
some  other  time,  and  that  must  be  a  time  that  is  already  past,  or  time  yet  to 


8 


come.  Well,  sir,  slavery  has  existed  here  under  the  sanction  of  Congress  for 
fifty  years  undisturbed.  The  right  time,  then,  has  not  passed.  It  must,  there¬ 
fore,  be  a  future  time.  Will  gentlemen  oblige  me  and  the  country  by  tell¬ 
ing  us  how  far  down  in  the  future  the  right  time  lies  ?  When  will  it  be 
discreet  to  bring  before  Congress  and  the  people  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  ?  Sir,  let  not  Senators  delude  themselves.  I  had 
the  honor  to  submit  to  the  Senate  some  weeks  ago  a  proposition  to  admit 
New  Mexico  as  a  State.  It  was  rejected  then  by  a  vote  unanimous  except 
my  own — those  who  were  in  favor  of  the  measure  voting  with  its  opponents, 
because  it  was  not  the  right  time.  They  said  the  Constitution  had  not  been 
officially  received.  It  was  not  a  fit  occasion.  The  measure  was  offered 
as  an  amendment  to  a  bill. 

Well,  sir,  the  Constitution  was  officially  received  yesterday,  and  the  Sen¬ 
ators  of  the  State  were  in  waiting.  But  New  Mexico,  in  the  mean  time, 
had  been  organized  as  a  Territory,  and  her  State  constitution  is  not  even 
honored  with  a  reference.  There  is  no  right  time,  no  fit  occasion,  for  New 
Mexico  to  enter  the  Union  as  a  free  State.  So,  sir,  it  will  be  with  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  right  time,  if  it  be 
not  now,  will  never  come.  Sir,  each  Senator  must  judge  for  himself. 
Judging  for  myself,  I  am  sure  the  right  time  has  come.  Past  the  middle 
age  of  life,  it  has  happened  to  me  now,  for  the  first  time,  to  be  a  legislator 
for  slaves.  I  believe  it  to  be  my  duty  to  the  people  of  this  District,  to  the 
country,  and  to  mankind,  to  restore  them  to  freedom.  For  the  perform¬ 
ance  of  such  a  duty,  the  first  time  and  the  first  occasion  which  offers  is  the 
right  one.  The  people  who  sent  me  here  knew  my  opinions  and  my  prin¬ 
ciples  on  that  subject.  If  I  should  waive  this  time  and  this  occasion,  such 
is  the  uncertainty  of  human  life  and  of  human  events  that  no  other  may 
offer  themselves  to  me.  I  could  not  return  to  the  people  who  sent  me 
here,  nor  could  I  go  before  my  Maker,  having  been  here,  without  having 
humbly,  but  firmly,  endeavored  to  discharge  that  great  obligation. 

Sir,  I  can  spare  one  word  of  reply,  not  to  the  wretched  imputation  that 
I  seek  by  this  measure  to  dissolve  the  Union  of  these  States,  but  to  the  ar¬ 
gument  that  the  measure  itself  tends  to  so  disastrous  a  consummation.  This 

Union  is  the  feeblest  and  weakest  national  power  that  exists  on  earth,  if 
with  twenty  millions  of  freemen  now  it  cannot  bear  the  shock  of  adding 

six  hundred  to  their  number.  The  Union  stands,  as  I  have  demonstrated 
at  large  on  former  occasions,  not  upon  a  majority  of  voices  in  either  or  both 
houses  of  Congress  upon  any  measure  whatever,  but  upon  enduring  phys1- 
cal,  social,  and  political  necessities,  which  will  survive  all  the  questions 
and  commotions  and  alarms  of  this  day,  and  will  survive  the  extinction  of 
slavery,  not  only  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  but  throughout  the  world. 
Others  may  try  to  save  it,  by  concession  to  slavery,  from  imaginary  perils. 
I  shall  still  seek  to  perpetuate  it  by  rendering  the  exercise  of  its  power 
equal,  impartial,  and  beneficent  to  all  classes  and  conditions  of  mankind. 


